The Ten Commandments go back to school

Last year on a prime-time network talk show, I was asked a very important question by an arrogant and politically liberal opponent. With obvious sarcasm, he asked me if I believed the problems of violence, teen pregnancy and academic bankruptcy which permeate our public schools would be reduced if the Ten Commandments could again be posted on the walls of America's classrooms.

I answered, "While the teaching and role-modeling of Judeo-Christian values by parents and educators must, of necessity, be re-introduced to the public school curricula, the posting of the Ten Commandments would be a wonderful first step in rebuilding the character of our nation."

How It All Started

This media encounter set me to thinking and praying. How may we legally get the Ten Commandments back into the public schools? Shortly thereafter, a Christian constitutional attorney answered my inquiries.

He informed me that, under First Amendment protection, American students may daily carry the Ten Commandments to school as covers on their textbooks. I later learned that the Family Research Council and other ministries were already assisting students in doing this on a small scale.

God Has Re-Enrolled In Our Schools

I decided my Jerry Falwell Ministries would do this on a mega-scale ... by the millions. We therefore created and began publishing Ten Commandments bookcovers in large volumes. And now, America is visiting my website, Falwell.com and ordering these bookcovers in unbelievable numbers.

We even send out bulk orders of hundreds and thousands of bookcovers at our production and handling cost. Bulk orders may be called in any time, day or night, at 1-800-813-2572, toll-free.

Completely Legal

This has resulted in legally saturating thousands of public classrooms with God's Law. A legal statement titled, "Students' Rights On Public School Campuses," is printed on the back of each bookcover, giving court rulings which support the students' right to use these covers. If a teacher or other school official hassles a student over this issue, the youth is encouraged to show that person the "legal statement."

Your Own Lawyer ... Free

If the hassling continues, the toll-free phone number of 65 constitutional attorneys at Liberty Counsel (1-800-671-1776) is also printed on the "legal statement." The student can dial that number and ask Liberty Counsel for pro bono representation.

It has been our experience thus far that, once Liberty Counsel has talked with the school officials, the dispute is ended immediately. Not one lawsuit has been necessary thus far.

The Supreme Court Started This Mess

In 1980, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Stone v. Graham that posting of a privately-donated copy of the Ten Commandments on a public school bulletin board in Kentucky was unconstitutional, thus outlawing posting of the Ten Commandments from all public schools in the nation.

In its ruling, the High Court included this amazing statement: "If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the school children to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey the Commandments. (This) is not a permissible objective."

Court rulings like the Stone decision have had a chilling effect on the free expression of religion in the public square, especially for our nation's millions of children who attend public schools.

A Major Legal Loophole

However, as devastating as these court decisions are, other rulings have left open a door for students to express their religious freedom in a personal way. In the 1969 case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, the court established an important precedent that forms much of the basis for understanding the rights of students on public school campuses today.

The Tinker case stemmed from Iowa students in grades two through 11 who came to school wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. The students were told to remove the armbands but refused and were threatened with suspension. A legal battle ensued with the case going all the way to the Supreme Court.

In Tinker, the court stated, "In our system, state-operated schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students in school as well as out of school are 'persons' under the Constitution. They are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect, just as they themselves must respect the obligations to the State."

Furthermore, the court recognized that students continue to carry their constitutional freedoms whether "in the cafeteria, or on the playing field or on the campus during the authorized hours."

"It can hardly be argued," the Court said, "that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."

More Recent Cases

Like all citizens, the twin pillars of constitutional freedom for public school students lie in the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The court has continued to uphold this position in more recent cases.

Writing in the 1995 case, Capital Square Review v. Pinnette, Justice Antonin Scalia said, "Private religious speech, far from being a First Amendment orphan, is as protected under the Free Speech clause as private secular speech."

"Indeed," Scalia continued, "in Anglo-American history, at least, government suppression of speech has been so commonly directed precisely at religious speech that a Free Speech clause without religion would be like Hamlet without the prince."

In addition to Tinker, other court rulings have plainly said that students may not only possess religious symbols and literature on public school campuses, but may share their faith either verbally or through distribution of leaflets or religious tracts, as long as such activities do not substantially interfere with the work of the school or impinge upon the rights of other students.

Mat Staver ... American Hero

Attorney Mat Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, a civil liberties legal defense firm affiliated with Jerry Falwell Ministries, says that students should not let school authorities intimidate them from sharing their faith.

"The distribution of religious literature is a powerful tool," Staver says. "Students may distribute religious literature before or after school while students are arriving on the campus. Bus stops and hallways are prime areas for the distribution of literature." Outside of class time, Staver says that students can witness or distribute literature during lunchtime in the cafeteria or on the playing field.

We are finally beginning to get the message, and the facts, about students' true religious freedom rights out to the American public. There is no longer any need for students and teachers who wish to express their faith in public schools to fear the bullies of the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Education Association or Barry Lynn and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Get Your Bookcovers

I urge every reader to visit my website and order Ten Commandments bookcovers. Let us take God's laws back into the schools of America. While much more is needed to reclaim our schools and our children for Christ, teaching God's laws to the children is a good starting place. Get your book covers today. You may write me personally at jerry@falwell.com.